


the happy anticipation of being able to feel contempt

by ceserabeau



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Episode: s2e06 Futamono, Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-06
Updated: 2014-04-06
Packaged: 2018-01-18 09:04:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1422451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceserabeau/pseuds/ceserabeau
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Discussion of the opening of Futamono (s2e06) and Will's conversation with Jack</p>
            </blockquote>





	the happy anticipation of being able to feel contempt

For me, the opening was very enlightening, particularly with regard to Will's emotional development and how his view of Jack has shifted so much over the course of the show.

Will was looking at Jack with such disdain. He’s talking about contempt, and the way his lips pull back suggest that Will is feeling it right then, right at that very moment. And Jack assumes it’s for Hannibal, because everything for Will must be about Hannibal, but I don’t think it is. Not then.

Because to Will, Jack is so slow, so clumsy. Like a bull in a china shop, blundering about. Clueless and completely blind to the fact that is becoming so obvious to everyone else. Jack is meant to be the head of a Behavioural Science Unit and yet he can’t see past his own anger and prejudices and pre-conceived notions of what Hannibal Lector is and is not.

Will hates how slow Jack is, how his mind can barely make connections that are becoming increasingly obvious. It’s so evident on his face: “Do you know why? I know why.” – and Will can’t quite believe that Jack, the man who Will has in many ways admired and looked up to, is so incapable of connecting the dots.

Beverley managed it and she was just a scientist running on blind faith in her friend, so why the hell can’t he?

Jack was clearly that kid at school who always let other people do the work, the one who would copy people’s notes over their shoulders, who would take the credit in group projects despite doing very little. He just wants Will to give him the answers like he always has before.

But Will is now so hyper-aware of being taken advantage of, particularly by Jack like so many times before. So the entire scene he’s caught halfway between a snarl and an eye roll, because honestly, Jack, figure it out yourself.

Yet he tells Jack anyway. It’s ingrained in him, telling his boss what he thinks, giving him the information he needs. And there’s nothing Will wants more than to see Hannibal Lector caught and put behind bars, locked up like Will is to be poked and prodded and examined for the rest of his life. So if he has to give Jack a helping hand he will, no matter how much he detests having to do it.

But Jack is so incredulous: “he’s eating them?”

He has no right to be so doubtful. Will has yet to steer him wrong, and it’s so awful that he doubts him simply because he’s on the other side of those bars. It’s no wonder that Will is starting to break in a whole new set of ways when he’s lost the support of someone he has never wronged, who he has done nothing but help for years even when he knew it was making him spiral.

And then: “Like Garrett Jacob Hobbs?”

When Will says no, it’s in such a disdainful tone, like really Jack you think they’re anything alike? And as Will says they’re not, not at all.

(And here’s a variation on a theme: contempt again, but this time Hannibal’s. Hannibal sees people as pigs, voracious and disgusting, fuelled by greed and gluttony, repulsive. It’s why he keeps the cards of the people that disgust him the most, so he can use them for his dishes because they are nothing more than pigs to him. There are so many parallels to be drawn between Hannibal and Will here, but if nothing else their contempt for others, no matter the reason, is the one to focus on.)

“There is no connection between Hannibal and any Ripper victims” – oh Will’s face, the rage and hurt and _scorn_. Honestly, this guy works for the FBI, heads a major crimes unit where he profiles serial killers for a living, and he can’t look _beyond_ the evidence?

I wonder if Jack simply doesn’t see the connections or if he’s not letting himself see them. Because he feels so hurt and betrayed by Will that he can’t bring himself to trust him, and therefore his judgement. Or is it because Hannibal has replaced Will in Jack’s life, and is proving to be a much steadier figure than Will ever was. They play the same role as friend, colleague, profiler; but where Will needed Jack to keep his head above water, a role which Jack never asked to take on, Hannibal doesn’t need that and never will. If anything the roles are reversed: Jack needs Hannibal to support him, and Hannibal has always been more than happy to oblige.

“Hannibal Lector is not the Chesapeake Ripper” – Will looks like he’s going to laugh. He actually looks more offended by Jack’s disbelief than the possibility that he ate some of the Ripper’s victims.

And Jack’s face reads as disgust, with a bit of anger. But the question is: who is it aimed at? Is it for Will, his once friend turned enemy, who is implying that Hannibal, Jack’s friend, confidante and colleague, is force-feeding him murder victims? Or is it for Hannibal, because Jack recognises the possibility that what Will’s saying might be true, that he has in fact been eating the very people he’s been trying to save?

I think it starts as one and moves into the other (particularly considering how the episode plays out), because at this moment his silence is telling. As is Will’s reaction. The man is an empath and so he suddenly has a moment of realisation as he finally understands the true extent of how Jack feels about him. It’s all over his face, how in that moment he suddenly sees just how deep Jack’s contempt for him and what he’s become runs.

But Will, in a way that we’ve been seeing him do all season, reacts without empathy. His expression is one of disbelief, of confusion, rather than of understanding. His mouth opens and closes, gaping like a fish, because he can’t quite put into words his surprise at Jack’s foolishness, his bafflement in the face of Jack’s stupidity. He simply cannot comprehend why Jack is so unwilling, so unable to see what’s right in front of his face.

And then: “who does he have to kill before you open your eyes?” and cut to Alana, innocent and helpless, next to Hannibal in the kitchen as he cuts through a heart. It’s enough to make you shiver.

**Author's Note:**

> I also really want to discuss Will's development this season, how he's slowly moving from a weak, helpless individual who lets other dominate him in every single way, to a much stronger, scarier person who is becoming increasingly dangerous.


End file.
